My initial training was steeped in basic techniques to include tracking viral proteins in cellular compartments, generating vaccinia constructs, and measuring cytotoxic responses. With this bench research foundation and as a physician scientist, I perform human subjects’ research. I have a broad background in clinical and translational research, with an emphasis on bronchoalveolar lavage BAL) as a tool to study lung immunology and biomarker discovery. My current studies utilize primary human lung and blood cells in culture, for flow cytometry, and biobanking for –omics studies. We perform longitudinal translational studies, correlating immunological findings and the lung microbiome with clinical disease in sarcoidosis, lung fibrosis, valley fever and HIV. Our studies are highly collaborative, partnering with intramural NIH and multi-institutional investigative teams to maximize the yield of the samples from our cohorts and to have the greatest impact on the field. Most recently we have been funded to perform collaborative studies in HIV. The chronic inflammation we see in HIV is likely providing the substrate for several diseases of premature aging COPD, coronary disease, and immune senescence) HIV studies of the immune response remain valuable and the challenge is now to examine these responses in the context of rigorously phenotyped subjects.